Operation Alligator
by The Thorned Rose
Summary: Tea has to move back to the USA to care for her grandmother. Meanwhile, Kaiba has been searching for information about his past. Mokuba and Noah purchase a home his parents owned for Kaiba's birthday. Kaiba and his brothers travel halfway across the world to Ponchatoula, Louisiana searching for answers about their past. Kaiba never expected to find his future there as well.
1. Chapter 1

It was a beautiful day in Domino City when Tea walked out the door to check her mail. She had forgotten to check yesterday after school and knew that there would be something left inside. She opened the box and flipped through the many envelopes. Bill…Bill…Junk mail…magazine… Suddenly she came across a letter from her father.

She smiled and immediately ripped open the envelope to see what new stories he had about his new family.

_**Dearest Tea,**_

_**How are you doing? According to your report cards, you seem to be doing well in school. I am happy to report that your Stepmother, Angelica, and your two stepsisters, Amy and Molly are doing quite well. We miss you very dearly especially your grandmother. Unfortunately, your grandmother has grown ill in her old age and I am not home most of the time to care for her. I was hoping you would consider coming home for a while to care for her. You're Stepmother and stepsisters are too inexperienced to be able to care for her. I won't force you to, but if you decide not to come she will have to be placed in a home. I have included a plane ticket in the envelope in case you decide to come. **_

_**With Love,**_

_**Papa**_

Tea stood there in shock. She couldn't let her grandmother be put in a home. They are never treated with the kindness and respect they deserve in those cold places. She knew what she had to do and slowly made her way to school to inform her friends.

Tea walked into an almost empty classroom appearing white as a ghost. She sat down at her desk wondering, 'How am I going to tell my friends?'

A mildly amused voice came from a desk in the back of the class, "You look like shit, Gardener."

Normally, she would instantly retort his nasty comment; but, today she just didn't have the energy. Instead, she just laid her head on the desk and waited for class to begin.

When she didn't answer back, he got up and stood in front of her desk. "What do you want Kaiba?" she asked miserably.

Instead of answering her, he asked, "Are you sick?" She shook her head no and Joey walked in the class room with the rest of the guys.

With a Brooklyn accent he asked, "Yo, Moneybags what did ya do to Tea?"

Before Kaiba could answer she handed Joey the letter from her father and said "read."

Joey looks down at the paper and skims through it, suddenly his eyes grew wide and he said, "WHAT, YOUR MOVING TO THE UNITED STATES! BUT, WHY?!"

"My grandmother is sick Joey. My father is simply too busy to care for her." She answered.

"But I thought you told us your father was getting married. Why can't she or her two daughters take care of her? They live in the same house." Yugi asked.

Tea scoffed and replied, "I wouldn't trust her with taking care of my goldfish. I only met her once, but something just doesn't feel right about her. And her daughters are the two most pretentious women I have ever met."

At this point Kaiba returned to his desk. His presence was no longer noticed, and he was getting the answers he wanted anyway.

Tristan nervously asked, "When do you leave?"

"Next Monday." She answered.

"Well, we will just have to have a going away party then!" Joey exclaimed. "How about the beach?"

Tea smiled and said, "That sounds like a lot of fun."

Joey then started prattling off a guest list, "Serenity, Mai, Duke, Mokuba, Noah…."

Tea sat there the rest of the day in silence.

After school, Kaiba got home and found Mokuba and doing their homework. Although finding Noah working on his homework normal; he knew Mokuba well enough to know that he wouldn't voluntarily do his homework unless he wanted something. "What do you want?" Kaiba asked knowingly.

"HOW DID YOU KNOW?!" Mokuba and Noah asked.

"Mokuba, it normally takes an act of congress to get you to do your homework, now spill." He answered his youngest brother.

Noah stood up and nervously shifted back and forth as he asked, "Can we go to Tea's going away party? Joey invited us and I know you won't let us go by ourselves."

Kaiba thought for a moment and knew his brothers would be devastated if he said no. With that he let go of all his pride and answered, "Fine."

His younger brothers tackled him into a hug and squealed, "Oh thank you Seto! You are the best brother a person could ask for!"

He looked down at his little brothers and replied, "Don't let that get around. Now get back to your homework."

Mokuba and Noah smiled and immediately went back to their homework.

That Saturday there was not a cloud in the sky, there was a lot of wind, but in the summer heat a breeze would come as a relief. The majority of the party was out swimming in the ocean. Mai, Serenity, Tristan, and Joey were playing Vollyball. It was a boys vs. girls game and as expected, the girls were wiping the floor with the boys. The stakes were high, the losing team had to buy the winning team ice-cream. Mokuba ran up to those not playing volleyball and screamed, "Seto, Tea, come on in the water is great!"

Seto completely ignored his brother and continued to read.

Tea sat up on her towel where she was sunbathing and asked Mokuba, "Can you keep a secret?"

Mokuba nodded and she leaned in and whispered, "I can't swim…and I rather not have Joey and Tristan poking fun at the fact before I leave."

Mokuba frowned and asked, "Really?"

She nodded and he said, "Okay, but would you two at least build a sandcastle or something. Watching you two is making me bored."

Tea stood up and dusted herself off. She moved closer to the water where the sand was slightly damp. She sat next to Noah who was holding a bucket and a plastic shovel. He looked grateful for the company, but slightly saddened that his older brother refused to join. Suddenly, she had a devious plan, she smashed together a ball of sand and threw it at Kaiba.

He looked up from his book with a look malice in his eyes, "What do you think you're doing Gardener?" he asked irritably.

His glare was terribly intimidating but she refused to allow him to know that. "Noah wants you to come build a castle with him. Knowing your severe paranoia of being dirty, I simply dipped your toe in the water so to speak. Now come over and help or I swear…." She was silenced by a sand ball to her face. "MY EYES!" she shrieked as she stumbled to the water. She tripped and made a splash. She sat at the water's edge and tried to splash the ocean water in her eyes but that only seemed to make it worse.

Kaiba watched dumbstruck until she started to frantically splash her face. He then realized what he had done and grabbed a water bottle from the cooler. He walked over to her side and grabbed her by her ponytail to get her to look up and keep still. He then poured the ice cold water into her eyes. She shivered as the ice water ran down her body; but, finally she could see again.

She was about to yell at him but he beat her to the punch and explained, "I wasn't aiming for your face."

Although she was still quite irritated, she realized this was his peculiar version of an apology. In a huff she said, "You're forgiven, just come play with your brother." With that they both walked back to Noah and started to build a castle.

About 30 minutes later, the rest of Tea's friends came up to the three building the castle and Joey asked, "Hey do yall want to go cliff diving with us?"

"Oooooh Nooooo." Tea answered "Thanks Joey, but I think I will pass" she answered confidently.

"You're not going Mokuba so you might want to sit with Noah and me." Kaiba stated afterwards.

Mokuba sat next to Seto and pouted, he knew that not even his infamous puppy eyes could get Seto's decision to sway if his safety was involved.

Yugi then suggested, "Yall don't have to dive if you don't want to, the sun is about to set and there is a gorgeous view from there."

Tea smiled and answered, "That does sound nice." 

Mokuba looked back up to his brother and asked, "Can we at least go see that?"

Kaiba looked at Joey skeptically and sensed something was up, "No Mokuba, stay here."

…..

Once they made it up to the top of the cliff the sight was spectacular. You could not only see the beach, but all of Tokyo city. Tea could see the Kaiba Corporation building towering over the rest of the city. While she was awestruck Joey sneaked up behind her and swooped her up bridal style, he then ran to the very edge of the cliff and quoted from one of her favorite movie, "Fly little duckling, Fly!" he then dropped her from the cliff and gave Tristan a high-five. "It is about time she went swimming with us." he stated.

Mokuba watched them climb the cliff. Once they reached the top, he saw Yugi pointing out things in the distance to the rest of the group. He looked back down to the sand castle when he heard a scream. The group looked up in surprise and saw Tea plummeting into the water. Mokuba jumped up in fear and shrieked, "SETO, SHE CAN'T SWIM!"

Seto sat there for a moment dazed. A splash was heard signaling Tea had hit the water. That splash was enough to clear Seto from his confused stated and allowed him to jump into action. He ran and dove into the water, swimming with all of his might. The waves were strong even for an experienced swimmer like himself. He caught sight of Tea flailing in the distance trying with all of her might to keep afloat. He reached his arm out almost had her hand in his grasp, when a huge wave crashed down over them sending them both under.

Tea hit her head against a rock when she was pushed under and slowly started to descend underwater.

Seto came back up for air and saw that Tea was nowhere to be found. He ducked under the water and saw her sinking a reddish tinted liquid was coming from her head. He quickly grabbed her by her arm and pulled her up for air.

He then wrapped both of her arms around his neck and kicked his legs to propel himself back to the shore. Thankfully, the tide was on his side this time and he was able to get back without much trouble.

By this time, everyone that was at the cliff had made it back to the beach. He carried her lifeless body back to the shore. He placed her down and placed his ear next to her nose, "She's not breathing!" He said unnerved. He then checked her pulse, it was faint, but it was still there.

He bit his lip and thought 'oh god, I am going to have to do CPR…' He tilted her head back and pinched her nose about to start the procedure when suddenly she stated to cough up water. He let out a breath of relief and stood up. He then turned to Joey and screamed, "What the hell were you thinking? You could have killed her!"

Joey who would normally argue, shirked back and replied, "I didn't know she couldn't swim."

Enraged Kaiba replied, "Oh, I am sure that defense would go well in your trial for Involuntary Manslaughter!"

Their argument was interrupted when Tea mumbled, "My head hurts." She placed her hand to her head and saw blood. Kaiba grabbed his Jacket by his beach bag and held it to her head wound. He then helped her to her feet and started to walk her to the limo.

"Where do you think you're going with Tea? MONEY BAGS!" Joey shouted.

Kaiba simply ignored him and Mokuba and Noah hopped into the car. Before the driver took off, Mokuba yelled, "Were going to the hospital!"

Kaiba looked over at Tea in the car and noticed her eyes were drooping. "You might not want to fall asleep until the doctors find out if you have a concussion." Kaiba stated nonchalantly.

Tea at that point was slightly dazed and just nodded. He removed his jacket being pressed up against her head at the moment. There was still too much blood to actually see the cut; however, the bleeding had started to slowdown. He pressed the jacket back to her head and waited until they pulled up to the hospital.

Inside the Emergency Room he approached the desk and everyone in the room looked up immediately. "Hello Mr. Kaiba," the office assistant greeted, "How can I help you?"

He simply grunted and pointed to Tea.

"Oh, I see." She responded looking slightly amused, "just fill out this paperwork."

She handed him the paper work and they went over to an empty looking portion of the waiting area.

He started to call out:

Name

"Tea Marie Gardener" she answered

Birthday

Like a robot she instantly replied "August 18th"

He pursed his lips together in an annoyed fashion.

"What?" she asked.

"You don't have a birth year?" He replied with a smirk. One of his favorite pastimes was pissing her off…and he was good at it.

She rolled her eyes and replied, "You're the genius, I am 16 figure it out."

He then continued, "Give a description of illness or injury. Busted Head. How did the illness/injury occur? Having morons for friends." He looked at her from the corner of his eye and saw her face heat up. With a smirk he moved on to medical history, "Are you pregnant?"

Her face turning redder by the second, "NO!" she answered through gritted teeth.

"When was your last cycle?" he asked as if he had no idea he was getting on her nerves.

That was when she snapped and asked, "Mokuba, would you take over this before I strangle your brother because god knows we wouldn't be able to get through the paperwork fast enough to resuscitate him."

Kaiba then said, "I will just put presently."

She snatched the board from him and handed it to Mokuba.

Mokuba looked down to the question Kaiba had yet to fill out and asked, "When was your last…" he looked at the word and sounded it out, "Pre-meh-stroo-al cycle, Premonsterool cycle."

Tea lowered her head in defeat and answered, "last week."

Kaiba started to snicker. Normally he would correct his brother's mistake, but a pre- monster- al cycle seemed to describe it perfectly.

When they finally got through the paperwork, they sat in the waiting room and waited…and waited… and waited.

Kaiba finally had enough of it and approached the desk to ask, "When is Mazaki going to be admitted, or are yall just planning on letting her bleed to death on my jacket?"

The receptionist typed a few things on her keyboard and looked up. She pointed to a man playing on his cellphone and says, "She is right after this stroke patient."

He gave her a glare that could have melted Alaska and went back to his seat.

He took another look at Tea's injury and stated, "We will be after the man who claims to be having a stroke but appears to be healthy enough to play angry birds (I don't own this) on his cell phone."

She rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. She was in a lot of pain and exhausted. When Kaiba sat next to her on the sofa, he was on the opposite side of her injury. She was tired so she curled her feet up behind her and rested her head on Kaiba's lap. She was almost certain Kaiba would pitch a hissy fit. But, much to her surprise he didn't seem to care.

Despite Kaiba's cool demeanor, he was incredibly uncomfortable with her position. He wasn't worried about blood getting on him nor was she wasn't hurting him. He simply wasn't used to anyone being this close to him, other than his little brothers of course. Unconsciously, he started to run his fingers through her hair. She didn't seem bothered by it until he accidentally came a little too close to the cut. She flinched as his fingers brushed it.

When he felt her cringe he stopped abruptly. Part of her wished he would have continued more carefully. But, she knew he would probably rather eat a live bird than to do anything actually comforting.

Finally, a nursing assistant called their name and they made it into a room to be evaluated.

The doctor sanitized and looked at her cut. The doctor asked, "Before the accident, did you have any issues with concentration?" She nodded and he continued, "The cut is not very bad in fact you will not even need stitches. The reason you are bleeding so much is likely that you are severely anemic, which means there is not enough iron in your blood. We will need a blood test to be certain. You do have mild concussion, so I want someone to watch over you tonight. However, I am confident enough that I am writing you 2 prescriptions and sending you home. One prescription is a pain killer, which we will give you one before you leave, and the other is a prescription for iron tablets. If after this heals you ever begin to feel weak or struggle concentrating you can purchase over the counter iron tablets to help."

He handed her the pain pill and a glass of water. He then started to bandage the cut on her head and she started giggling. Kaiba looked over to the doctor and the doctor said, "It is a reaction to the medicine, she will be fine."

When they arrived at her home she was giggling nonstop. Although Kaiba found it annoying, Mokuba and Noah acted like it was the funniest thing on earth. Tea opened the door and the minute she tried to stand her legs went out on her. Kaiba let out a sigh and wondered, 'How much pain killers did this doctor give her.'

He went around the limo and picked her up off the ground. Mokuba too the keys and unlocked the door. Tea's giggles were getting worse by the second. Irritated beyond belief at this point, I asked, "What the hell is so funny?"

"THE Seto Kaiba has to get me into bed," she answered. She giggled some more and continued, "I bet you didn't see that coming."

Thank god it was dark, otherwise she would have seen him turn red. Mokuba and Noah were enjoying her medication induced dialogue immensely.

Kaiba carried her into her bedroom slightly disgusted by the amount of pink he saw and placed her in the bed. She looked up at Kaiba and said, "Ooooh I have a joke! What do you call an alligator in a vest?!"

He rolled his eyes and decided to indulge her, "What?"

"An in-vest-i-gator" she said gleefully.

He covered her with the blanket and smiled, "Good Night, Mazaki."

"Good Night, Kaiba" she replied as she snuggled into the blanket. He would have to stay the night with her so he made his way to the living room and found Mokuba and Noah already asleep on the couches. 'Where the hell am I supposed to sleep?' he thought as he investigated all the other rooms of the house. The only spot he could find was a recliner in Tea's room facing the TV. Without much of a choice, he sat in it and put his feet up. This was certainly going to be a long night.


	2. Chapter 2

Tea woke up around 6:00 the next morning. Slightly disoriented, she stumbled to the bathroom sink and splashed water on her face. She lifted up a towel and looked into the mirror to find a lot of blood matted in her hair. She reached up and gently touched the bandaged area of her head. "What the…" she mumbled. She then noticed a particularly bloody Kaiba Corporation Jacket thrown in the tub.

"Good your awake," a voice called from the door behind her. She shrieked in surprise, grabbed the closet thing to her a weapon and swung her body around.

Kaiba looked her over with an amused expression gracing his features, "Is that supposed to strike fear in my heart or did the hardware store forget to fax me the memo about explosive plungers."

When she realized it was just him, she put down the plunger and asked, "What are you doing here? Also, what the hell happened last night...OMG we didn't...?"

He rolled his eyes and answered, "No, we didn't. Because, your reckless pal Joey almost killed you yesterday, I had to bring you to the hospital. As I am sure you have figured out, you received quite the head injury and the doctor asked me to keep an eye on you overnight."

Tea bit her lip, that didn't make sense. He has hall kinds of employees at his disposal, why would he personally elect to watch over me? Regardless, she replied, "Thank you, Kaiba."

He ignored her expression of gratitude and continued, "As soon as the pharmacy opens I will bring you to pick up your medicine. You might want to get started packing."

Her face fell, she had completely forgotten she had to move tomorrow. With that she grabbed a duffle bag and a few boxes and sat them on the bed.

To her surprise he grabbed one and asked "where do I start?" She giggled nervously and said, "You're eager to get rid of me, aren't you?" He ignored her comment and waited till she pointed to a bookshelf, "Any photo albums you find on that shelf put in this box. Also if you wouldn't mind collect any photo frames you see on display around the house." She then grabbed a book off of her night stand and said "This is the only piece of literature that needs to be packed, my father will have a moving company pack the rest after I leave."

Kaiba read the title, The World's Greatest Fairy Tales and asked, "Fairy tales, why are you packing this?"

She grabbed the duffle bag and started stuffing in clothing and explained, "It was one of the last thing my mother gave me before she died. The book came with a locket that she put a family photograph in. I still wear it today." She explained as she opened her locket on her neck to show him. It was a photo of a very young looking Tea with her mother and father on both sides of her.

Mokuba and Noah woke up soon after that and also helped out with the packing. Within 3 hours, everything really important had been taken care of.

The next day, All of Tea's friends had gathered at the airport appearing rather gloomy. Tea was trying extremely hard to control her emotions in front of her friends. The last thing she wanted was for he friends to see her have a meltdown. Starting from left to right she decided to give each of her friends a hug. Each of her friends gave their goodbyes and then she came to Kaiba. She wrapped her arms around him and his eyes grew wide…he wasn't really sure what he was supposed to do. He looked to his brothers and they were making circles with their arms to tell him to hug her back. Hesitantly, he tried to wrap his arms around her, but chickened out at the last second and simply said, "You're going to miss your flight."

A flash of sadness crossed her eyes and she nodded. When she boarded the plane everyone started to leave but Kaiba and his little brothers waited until the plane took off. Under his breath he muttered, "Goodbye Gardener." He then turned on his heel and they went home.

During the time that passed several events had occurred. Tea and the group sent letters back and forth. Mokuba and Noah would "drag" their older brother to the game shop every week so they could hear Tea's letter and write one back. In one of the letters over the years, Tea informed that her father had died of a heart attack. A few words in the letter were smeared likely because she was crying while writing it. After that, the letters began to come less and less. She apologized in every delayed letter, claiming that her grandmother has been requiring extra care.

5 YEARS LATER

Kaiba sat in his office, typing away at his computer when the door swung open to reveal his 2 brothers. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY SETO!" they screamed. He looked up at his little brothers which were now teenagers Mokuba was Carrying a business envelope with a bow and Noah was Carrying a Chocolate cake with a single candle on top.

He shut his keyboard and put it to the side so Noah could sit the cake on his desk. "Thank you Mokuba and Noah," he said in surprise. He had forgotten it was his own birthday. He then said, "Since yall came all this way to get here, how about we put this cake in the fridge and go out to eat. We can eat a slice when we get back."

"That sounds great Seto, but first you have to make a wish." Noah explained. Seto rolled his eyes but did as Noah asked. He started to think, what could I wish for? There was only one thing that came to mind. Since, Noah and Mokuba were getting older, he had no doubt that one day they would move out and start families of their own leaving him all alone. Although he was used to being alone most of the day, he always had his brothers to come home to. With that he thought, 'I wish to find someone to share my life with.'

He blew out the candle and his brothers began to clap. "What did you wish for," Mokuba asked.

Seto refused to tell him what he truly desired so he answered, "It won't come true if I tell you." He then placed the cake into the mini fridge in his office and grabbed his keys.

…

Tea sat on her knees scrubbing the floor and staring down at a study guide she made for her medical terminology class at the University. Since her father died, her grandmother had continued to grow ill and she knew she could never earn enough money to go to Julliard. Since becoming a professional dancer was no longer an option, she decided to take out student loans to be able to follow her second passion, to help people. She was constantly exhausted because besides going to medical school and caring for her grandmother. She had a job at a small antique shop a little ways down the road and was expected to keep her stepmother's home spotless.

A small girl had run in from outside with a basket of eggs. "Tea, I got the eg…ouf" the child had slipped on the floor I had just mopped and eggs had flown everywhere across the room. Tea hung her head in defeat, she had just cleaned this room and now she was going to have to argue with her stepmother, Angelica, over the loss of the eggs. Tea let out a breath, "It's alright Melody, just go take a quick shower and get dressed for school. I will take care of everything."

Melody scampered away. Tea smiled at her half-sister, she resemble her father in both looks and personality (thank god), which was amazing since she had to grow up with Angelica. She had Black hair and her father's blue eyes. A glob of egg that had sat upon her head slid down her hair and dripped on the floor all the way to the bathroom.

Tea snickered, "scrambled eggs for breakfast anyone?"

….

At the restaurant they all sat contently as they waited for their Lunch. Mokuba pulled the envelope he had earlier out of his backpack and said, "This is your present big brother. It took a lot of work but we finally found it."

Kaiba looked confused, he didn't remember losing anything, and why would they be giving something he lost as a gift. He shrugged the thought off and opened the envelope; inside held a dead to some property in Louisiana. He looked over to his brothers confused and Noah, "This is original home our birth family grew up in before they moved to Japan. This is where you spent the first 4 years of your life Seto."

Mokuba continued, "The real-estate agent told us it is very run down and in desperate need of repairs. However, all of the original furniture and stuff is in there. Maybe we might even find some photo albums."

Kaiba's eyes lit up, he couldn't believe after all these years of searching for something about his birth parents, these two little twerps found his original home. He was so excited that instead of thanking them he asked, "So, when do we leave?"

…

Melody came out the bathroom clean and ready for school. I was still busy cleaning up the egg gook that was scattered across the room. I had a feeling that I was going to get it for staining Angelica's sofa. The bucket of water that I was using to clean the floor had become so filled with egg yolk that it now defeated the purpose of cleaning with it. I opened up the front door to go dump the dirty water out when I heard Amy scream, "Tea, where is my breakfast?!" She rolled her eyes and screamed back "I am working on it!" I sat the bucket on the floor and said to Melody, "Melody, grab a few cereal bars for breakfast and go to school." I handed her the lunch I packed for her and continued, "I don't want you to be here when Angelica sees the mess in the living room."

As I pushed her out the door she asked, "But Tea, won't you get hurt again?"

I shook my head no and replied, "It doesn't matter what she does to me. The only way she could really hurt me is to hurt you now go!" Tea shut the door behind her and locked it. While she cooked she watched Melody walk down the road to the small school house.

As her stepsisters walked in, she started setting stacks of pancakes on the table. Her stepmother walked in behind them and asked, "What happened to the living room?"

Tea bowed her head as if in repentance and replied, "Dearest stepmother, I am terribly sorry for the damaged I have caused, but I slipped on the freshly mopped floor when I went to retrieve the eggs. I will have this place clean in no time."

Angelica sneered and replied, "Of course you will. You are not leaving for the University until you do."

Tea nodded and looked down to her feet, she had a test today.

It was then Angelica roughly grabbed her chin and said, "You will also pay for the couch I will have to replace."

Tea panicked and said, "Oh, stepmother, I am certain I can remove the stain with…"

Angelica used her other hand to dig her nails into the belt mark on my wrist. Tea screamed in agony as her stepmother irritated the already raw skin.

Smiled a content smile and continued, "Before the day is done, I also expect you to replace the eggs you broke."

Without argument, I agreed, "Yes stepmother."

After she finished cleaning, she had already missed the class and was completely burnt out. She had 2 options: She could take a nap on the cot she normally sleeps in by the stable or she could go to her secret "castle" (which in reality was just an old abandoned home) and sleep on the old mattress that was located there. Since her stepmother and stepsisters went out shopping, she knew they wouldn't be back for hours and chose the latter of the two.

….

After the celebration with his brothers he worked for three days straight with less than 4 hours of sleep in order to get ahead good enough to be able to stay out in Louisiana for 2 weeks. He would still be able to do most of the work with his laptop but doubted he would have much time with all the renovations Mokuba claimed it would need to turn it back into its former glory. Kaiba didn't know what he was going to find out there, but he would find out.

…

The Kaiba brothers drove from the airport in a rental car. The flight was long and had a lot of turbulence due to several storms along the way. When they finally reached the home Kaiba had longed to see, he couldn't help but be disappointed in just how much renovations it required. The front porch had a hole in it, the paint on the house was dirty and peeling, and it appeared to have a good bit of water damage. He walked up to the front door with the keys the real-estate agent gave his little brothers and wasn't surprised when he found that the lock was broken; therefore, he had no need for the keys.

He walked in and was very surprised with what he saw. He expected it to be covered in dust and cobwebs but was surprised to see that it was tidy. So tidy in fact, that he questioned if anyone had been living in the old home. He vaguely remembered the layout and walked to the master bedroom towards the back of the house. He was surprised when his two brothers went "Shhhhh," they then pointed to the bed and I saw a familiar face asleep in the bed.


	3. Chapter 3

Her head was resting on a textbook signifying she was probably studying before she fell asleep. Two other textbooks, some sheet music, and a very old and busted up violin also surrounded her on the bed. He quietly walked in the room and looked at the girl close, it was definitely Tea. Seto's cheeks grew a slight shade of red. How the hell did she get here he wondered. He then picked up a few pieces of sheet music she had written and flipped through some of the titles,

'Shatter me'

'Numb'

'Bruised and Broken'

Glancing at the lyrics he squinted his eyes in confusion, why would Tea write such dark songs. He would sooner imagine her tap-dancing to zipadeedoodah then to see her write things such as this. He then heard her stir and looked down at her on the bed.

Her eyes fluttered open and she screamed when she saw 3 boys standing over her bed. She flipped off the side of the bed and was about to bolt when she heard Mokuba say, "Tea, it's us."

Sprawled out on the floor, she looked up and recognized the boys. She let out breath of relief and asked, "Hey, what are you guys doing here?

"We this just bought this place, it was where Seto lived before mom and dad moved to Japan." Mokuba explained.

"And, what are you doing breaking and entering Gardener?" Kaiba asked.

Tea's eyes grew big as she looked out the window and saw the sun beginning to set and she picked up her textbooks and sheet music, "It's not breaking and entering if the door is unlocked. In any case, I am very sorry for intruding. I have to go." She then ran out the door.

Noah decided to state the obvious by saying, "Well that was weird, she didn't even argue with you for being an ass."

Seto watched her from the window run into the back door of a house further down the road. There was something suspicious going on with her and he was determined to find out what.

Mokuba then said, "Seto, she forgot her violin."

Seto let out an irritated sigh and said, "I'll be back." He picked up the violin and walked down the road.

His two younger brothers followed behind in secret. They were equally troubled by what they just had seen.

…

Tea ran into the kitchen to start dinner only to find her little sister had already pulled out the ingredients that she needed. "Thank you Melody, you're a lifesaver."

Her little sister smiled and replied, "It is just a small thank you for helping me this morning."

She ruffled the child's hair affectionately, when the doorbell rang. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she approached the door. To her surprise, she saw her stepmother at the door looking disgusted. She then yelled, "Tea! One of your friends speaking gibberish just arrived."

Tea walked to the door to find a smirking Seto Kaiba. She then yelled back, "It's not gibberish stepmother, it's Japanese." She turned back around to face him and asked, "What are you doing here?" as she stepped out the door and shut it for privacy.

He replied, "I didn't realize she didn't speak Japanese like you do. I would have spoken in English had I known."

Tea chuckled and said, "It is probably better if she doesn't know you speak English. She is not exactly the most pleasant person in the world. But that still doesn't answer the question, what are you doing here?"

He picked up the violin he had leaned against the house when he knocked on the door and handed it to her, "You forgot this by the house." He explained.

She shook her head no and said, "No that was in the house when I found it a few years back. Since it didn't look like anyone was even knew about the house much less were going to buy it, I just borrowed it and taught myself how to play."

She went to hand it back but Kaiba shook his head and said, "Keep it then, knowing Mokuba he would try to play air guitar with it and bang it on the floor like a tacky rock star."

He turned around to leave when she said, "Hey Kaiba," he turned back to look at her and she continued, "there is a little barnyard dance tomorrow down the road at six o'clock," she pointed to the red barn further down the block, "Everyone is invited and I would love to introduce you and your brothers to a few of my friends. I understand if you are too busy, but I hope you will at least consider coming."

Before he could answer, Melody came out and said, "Tea, mother is becoming… impatient."

Tea nodded and said, "I have to go, but I hope to see you all there."

She shut the door and Kaiba started to walk home. He was surprised to see his 2 little brothers climbing out of the bushes and ask, "So can we go?"

Kaiba lifted an eyebrow, "You were spying on me?"

"Absolutely," Noah replied, "So can we go?"

Kaiba rolled his eyes and said, "I am way too busy to attend a silly little dance."

He looked to his younger brothers and they were both giving him puppy dog eyes. He walked past them and said, "Sorry the cuteness factor has worn off since you have gotten older."

They then ran in front of him and got on their knees to make themselves shorter and tried again. Kaiba started to laugh and replied, "Alright, alright, we can go. Now let's get out of this heat." He pulled off his trench coat and asked, "Does Louisiana ever have a winter?"

When he got back to the small home, he flicked on the light switch and excitedly said, "Hey, we have electricity!"

"Finally, go put on the air conditioner." Mokuba commanded.

Noah obliged and Seto went into the bedroom to work. Noah and Mokuba called for a pizza and sat around the kitchen table. Mokuba started discussing that morning, "Wow, Tea certainly got pretty since she was high school."

"I know," Noah replied, "Even Seto was blushing when he first saw her."

Mokuba did a double take and asked, "Seto blushed?"

Noah nodded and said, "Yeah, I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it myself."

Mokuba smiled a wicked smile and replied, "Then we DEFINITELY need to get Seto to that dance. This is the first time I have ever heard of him making even the slightest response to a woman. Besides, I want a nephew!"

The doorbell rang and they both screamed, "Pizza!"

…

"Who was that?" Angelica asked dangerously as Tea brought dinner to the dining table.

"He sure was handsome." Molly said as she twirled her already curly red hair.

"And built." Amy agreed.

Tea rolled her eyes in disgusts and answered, "He is a boy I knew from Japan. Nothing more."

Angelica looked at her skeptically and replied, "It sure looked like something more to me from the way he was looking at you."

Tea was caught off guard by this response and her stepmother took that as a sign of her deceit. She stood up and grabbed Tea by the neck while Tea struggled against her, she whispered, "If you dare lie to me again I will rip you from limb to limb."

Tea dropped to the floor and gasped as she let her go, "I am not lying to you stepmother, I wouldn't dare do so."

Angelica turned back around and grabbed her by the neck again, but this time she flung her against the curio cabinet. Glass shattered everywhere. Tea sat there bleeding and in a lot of pain. Her stepmother simply walked over her and said, "Clean this up."

Melody walked in after hearing the crash and screamed.

"I'm ok Melody," Tea said faintly. She stood up on shaky legs and said, "Bring grandma her food for me please. I will be in there as soon as I finish patching myself up."

After Melody brought the tray to her grandma she went to the bathroom to check on Tea. She was horrified when she saw Tea standing now in only her undergarments pulling a large chunk of glass out of her neck. She looked to Melody and asked, "Could you get the last couple of pieces for me?"

Melody worked in silence and helped Tea bandage herself from the neck to the lower back. Tea threw the dress she was wearing in a garbage can and said, "There goes another one."

Molly walked past the door and said, "We just got an email about a modeling contest in Texas. Mother, Amy, and I will be leaving tomorrow morning. I highly suggest you have this place spotless by the time we get back. It will be a overnight trip."

"Yes Molly." Tea responded and Molly left. Tea turned back to Melody and said, "Let's go visit grandma."

…

Grandmother sat in the bed with a smile on her face, "Dinner was delicious Tea." She complemented.

Tea shook her head and replied, "Melody did most of the work."

Melody turned red and we all chuckled. Her shaky hand reached out for mine and she said, "I heard you had a handsome visitor today. Is he someone special?"

Tea blushed and shook her head no, "He is just an acquaintance I knew from Japan."

Her grandmother's face suddenly saddened and she said, "Darling, you don't have to be afraid to fall in love. When your father asked you to take care of the family, he didn't mean for you to become their slave."

Tea nodded and answered, "I know maw maw, but I must do as she says to keep you and Melody safe. You know as well as I do that generally the rights of a child go to the birthmother in the court of law. I can't leave Melody unprotected like that."

Her grandmother turned her face downward and said, "I love you Tea and Melody."

Tea kissed her grandmother's forehead and lifted Melody so she could do the same and replied, "We love you too. Now get some rest."

The elderly woman nodded and started to dose off.

…

After Tea tucked Melody into bed, she headed out to the barn. She pet the horse her father gave her on her 16th birthday, Belle, and promised her a ride tomorrow. She then dug through the chest located next to her cot to find something to wear tomorrow that would hide the rather large gash on the back of her neck. She found a white turtleneck sweater and a green pleated skirt. "That will have to do," she mumbled irritably. With that she laid out her clothing and curled up on the cot to sleep.

…

Tea got up extra early the next morning because she wanted to get rid of her stepmother and stepsisters as soon as humanly possible. Since her stepfamily wasn't around to pester her, she decided to make some beignets for the barn dance. Beignets are a square fried pastry (sort of like a doughnut) that are usually covered with powdered sugar. The fun thing about this is that there is NO neat way to eat a beignet. No matter how hard you try, you end up with powdered sugar on your face and on your clothes. She imagined Kaiba's face being covered in powdered sugar and silently giggled. She doubted he would come but clung to a small strand of hope.

After her father's death she had pretty much lost all hope of returning to Japan. He was the one who paid for her to continue school out there after her parent's divorce. Now that he was gone, she would never agree to help Tea move back to Japan. She had much more important things to squander her money on like $600 shoes.

She looked at the time and it was almost time for the barn dance. She sat with her grandmother until she had finished dinner and told Melody to get ready.

…

They arrived at the barn dance about 30 minutes late. Melody went to play Frisbee with some of the other children her age while Tea carried beignets to the table.

She felt someone tap her on the shoulder and turned around to find her friend Alex. "Hey Cher (Hey dear)," he greeted me.

"Hello Alex, How are you?" She asked.

(WARNING LOUISIANA DIALECT!)

He grabbed his slightly rounded belly and replied, "Better now that you brought your famous beignets. I swear you have every boug (boy) here just dying to make you their Gaienne (girlfriend)."

She rolled her eyes and asked, "Speaking of which, have you seen 3 new guys walking around here?"

He shook his head and replied, "No Cher, I sure haven't. What do they look like?"

She blushed and said, "The oldest one is called Kaiba. He is tall with brown hair and he has a particularly odd fascination with trench coats."

She paused for a second when he asked, "Is he your beau (boyfriend)?"

Her blush deepened and she continued, "No, they are only friends from Japan. In fact, Kaiba never even really considered me that. The other 2 boys are his little brothers. The one with black hair is named Mokuba and the other one with green hair is called Noah."

He chuckled and asked, "Well, what are these 3 boug like?"

She smiled and said, "Well, Kaiba is a business man. He is a very proud and driven individual. He is always looking for a challenge or a game to win. Mokuba is a sweet child but he has a mischievous side. Noah… well I haven't exactly figured out his personality yet.

"Aye can see the famille portrait now." Alex teased.

Thoroughly annoyed with his mocking she went inside to assist with decorating.

….

The 3 Kaiba boys arrived about 15 minutes late and saw a band performing on top of a few hay stacks. People were dancing gleefully, constantly switching partners. "What kind of music is that?" Noah asked.

Before Kaiba could answer an outspoken Cajun wearing tattered overalls and a baseball cap answered, "Don't tell me you haven't heard Zydeco music before boug?"

Noah shook his head and was about to continue speaking when he saw a little girl with black hair run up to him and say, "Allons Danser!"

"What does that mean," He asked.

"Let's Dance," she answered, with that she pulled him out to the dance floor.

The man in the overalls continued, "My name is Alexander Louis Beauregard. You must be the 3 boys Tea was talking about."

Mokuba nodded, but Kaiba simply grunted.

"Not much of a talker I see," he said as he looked Kaiba up and down. He shrugged and said, "Laissez les bons temps rouler!" (let the good times roll.)

With that the young man in overalls walked over to Tea, which Kaiba now spotted by the punch bowl. Alex grabbed her arm and screamed, "Allons Danser!" The crowd cheered at the expression and continued on in their merriment.

Mokuba ran into the crowd to join in on the fun. Kaiba leaned against the side of the barn and watched on. He mainly watched Tea, he observed that she was an excellent dancer. Even if this was a particularly odd form of swing dancing. Without realizing it, he watched her most of the night.

_The band started to play a Joe Nichols song, "What's a guy gotta do?" (look it up on youtube it reminds me of Kaiba)_

Once again the nosey blond boy Alex walked next to Kaiba and asked, "Mister Kaiba, why don't you ask someone to dance? I noticed you have kept your eye on one particular fille (girl) all night."

Kaiba kept silent. Alex was getting frustrated, nothing he did seemed to catch Kaiba's interest…but if he made it into a competition, maybe he could influence Kaiba to get out of his comfort zone.

"Aye Kaiba, I tell you what, since we are both interested in making Tea our bele (girlfriend), how about we make a game out of it?" Alex asked sneakily.

Kaiba's eyebrow raised unconsciously, which proved to Alex that he was in fact listening.

Alex continued, "I know your home is in desperate need of repairs, I am a carpenter and I could help. If you win Tea's heart, I will help you repair your house absolutely free with exception of the building materials of course. However, If Tea becomes my bele you give me a ride in that fancy aéropléne (airplane) that I saw you fly here in… We shall call it Operation Alligator."

Kaiba thought for a minute, 'He didn't really have anything to lose, if he could get Tea to believe that he loved her he could get free repairs on his house. If not, all it would cost him is a few minutes in his plane.'

"You're going to regret challenging me," Kaiba said, "But, deal."

They shook hands and Kaiba saw Tea approaching. "Hey, what are you boys up to?" she asked.

Alex snapped his overalls and replied, "Just a little business transaction. I agreed to start working on repairing Mr. Kaiba's house."

Tea's eyes lit up and she said, "Oh that's great! I can't wait to see it fully restored."

The band transitioned to a slow song by Josh Turner, "Your Man". Kaiba sucked in a breath, if he was planning on winning Operation Alligator, he would have to do something besides grunt in response to people's questions. He extended his hand out to her, as if to ask her to dance. She was surprised by the gesture, but smiled and allowed him to lead her to the dance floor."

Mokuba and Noah looked on from their own dance partners, they couldn't believe he actually asked Tea to dance.

The dance was particularly quiet mainly because neither knew what to say. Kaiba was never much good with socializing with people and Tea was still in a state of shock.

Tea knew she had to say something so she asked the first question that came to her head, "How long are you guys going to stay in Louisiana?"

"Two weeks," he answered.

She bit her lip, she was hoping they would stay a bit longer. Just his presence made her feel almost like she was back at home in Japan again.

Kaiba studied her expression and saw something he never imagined he would see in her eyes, loneliness. In Japan she had many friends to spend time with, but here it seemed like her only real friend was this guy Alex and he was interested in more than just a simple friendship.

As quickly as the wind could change directions, she put a smile on her face and said, "Well I will just have to enjoy the time you guys are here to visit. Have you tried any of the creole cuisine?" she asked as she pointed to the table of food.

He shook his head and she continued, "The food cooked in Louisiana is like nothing you have ever tried before. You should give it a try."

The song came to an end and she led him to the table, she introduced several dishes including etouffee, jambalaya, crayfish (which look like bugs), beignets, crawfish bisque…

She then pointed to a particular dish and whispered, "Whatever you do, don't eat the burgoo. Alex made it, meaning he took whatever road kill he could find and threw it in the pot to cook."

Kaiba made a face of pure disgust and Tea stated laughing hysterically. She had never seen such a genuine look of horror on Kaiba's face.

Alex then came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. She flinched slightly. Alex didn't seem to notice, but Kaiba did. However, he figured it was probably a reaction to he having a crush on Alex or something. Tea turned around and saw that Alex was holding her violin. "Hey Cher, would you honneur us with a song?"

Tea smiled, but looked slightly pained for some odd reason. She carried her violin up to the stage. She turned to the band and asked the band, "What will it be, boys?"

"Down at the twist and shout!" shouted someone from the audience. She laughed and started to play.

Kaiba couldn't help but be mildly impressed, after all she did say that she taught herself. She definitely wasn't a professional, but she was pretty good. He was even surprised such a worn out instrument produced such a lovely tone.

While she played he took her advice and tried some of the food. Kaiba was particularly fond of sweets so he headed straight for the beignets.

Tea giggled while she played as she saw Kaiba's miserable attempt at trying to consume the beignet gracefully. When the song came to a close, she walked over to Kaiba with a slight smirk and simply said, "Stop trying, it is impossible," as she grabbed a napkin and wiped a bit of powder sugar stuck on his nose.

Alex came up behind her and hit her on her back playfully, this time the look of pain was inescapable. Alex looked at her horrified, "What is wrong Cher, I know I didn't bûcher (hit)you that hard?"

She took a deep breath and the pain slowly started to subside. "I just have back problems," she explained. Kaiba sensed she was lying but didn't push the issue since he had no proof. Tea then said, "I am growing tired. I think I am going to go home yall." She grabbed Melody's hand and started to walk towards her house. Kaiba watched her walk down the road. When he saw her reach her house, he was interrupted by Mokuba asking, "Big brother, do you like Tea?"

"Of course not," he answered, he looked back to Tea's home door and saw she was sticking the key in the door. But that wasn't what really caught his eyes, he could have sworn he saw blood on shoulder of her sweater. She went inside too quick for him to really tell.


	4. Chapter 4

When Tea got inside the house, she finally let go of the tears she had been holding back. Although, Alex was just trying to get her attention, his light tap was still enough to scrape one of the deeper cuts from last night open. Melody held her hand as Tea cried against the door. Melody was scared and didn't know what to do to comfort her older sister. When the throbbing pain finally started to subside, Tea walked to the bathroom to soak in the tub.

….

When Mokuba and Noah were ready, Kaiba walked with them back to his parent's home. Since the lock on the door was broken, Kaiba propped a chair up against the door knob. He turned around and noticed his brothers were looking at him expectantly. "What?" he asked simply.

"Why did you ask Tea to dance?" Noah asked, "Do you like her?"

"No, I just did it." Kaiba replied.

Mokuba looked up at his oldest brother and said, "Seto, we know you; and, we know you always have a reason for what you do. It is not like we are against you liking Tea. In fact, I would love to have her as part of the family. So, if you like her, tell her."

Kaiba rolled his eyes and replied, "I told you twice already, I feel nothing for Gardener."

"Then why did you ask her to dance?" Noah asked again.

Kaiba was now frustrated and mockingly said, "I must be coming down with something."

Mokuba smirked and replied, "Yeah, you're coming down with the love bug."

Thoroughly pissed, Kaiba walked into the bedroom and slammed the door.

…

The next day Tea had everything ready for her stepfamily's return home. The house was clean and red beans were cooking slowly on the stove. Her grandmother's birthday was today, so she decided to go collect some apples to make an apple filled king cake. She yelled to melody, "Keep an eye on the beans for me, please."

A loud, "Okay," rang through the house.

….

Kaiba walked outside and saw Tea outside picking apples. Remembering Operation Alligator, he slowly approached her not really knowing what to say. He then noticed her standing on her tippy toes, trying with all her might to get a large shiny red apple.

Kaiba, now behind Tea reached up and handed her the apple.

With the sight of a hand next to hers she turned around to face Kaiba. When he handed it to her, she stuttered, "uh…oh, Thank you."

"What are you doing here?" she asked curiously.

Mildly surprised by her question, he was unsure what to say. Why was he there? He gritted his teeth and replied, "umm…I saw you struggling to reach the apple."

She smirked and replied, "I know your lying, but for the time being I will let it slide."

Kaiba frowned and asked, "What are you, the human lie detector?"

She shook her head and answered, "No, but when the GREAT Seto Kaiba says 'umm,' something is up."

'Damn her for being so observant,' he thought to himself. He then looked at the very large basket full of apples and asked, "What are you making with all those apples?"

She smiled and answered, "I am making a king cake. Have you had one before?" He shook his head no and she continued, "I will have to bring you three some. It is delicious." Although, her stepmother wouldn't be pleased, Tea bought the groceries out of her own money so there wouldn't be anything she could really do about it.

She was about to explain the history behind a king cake when she heard a voice call her name. She turned to look and rolled her eyes. Kaiba heard her mumble under her breath, "Oh God, please kill me now." His eyes narrowed at the man. He was a balding man who appeared to be in his 40's. He walked clumsily with a cane.

"Who is that?" Kaiba asked.

Tea responded, "Harrison LeBlanc, He owns a small antique shop here in town…I deal with the finances of his business."

The older man finally reached us and he said, "My dearest Tea, you get lovelier every day."

"Flattery will get you nowhere sir." She retorted as she took the financial papers out of his hands.

Harrison frowned, "Tea I don't know why you insist on doing these financial statements when you could have the opportunity to live in the lap of luxury. You would never have to work again. If only you would agree to marry me."

Tea flipped through the papers and replied, "Has it every occurred to you that I am not interested in your money?"

"Don't be silly darling, everyone is interested in money. Besides, aren't you tired of the way your stepmother treats you."

Kaiba's eyes narrowed at that statement; especially, when he saw her flinch in response. He knew something was going on, but he needed to gain her trust for the sake of Operation Alligator. Besides he doubted she would talk about whatever was going on anyway with the acquaintanceship they currently had.

Harrison then noticed the man standing next to Tea, "Forgive me for my manners sir," he said as he extended his hand, "I am Harrison Leblanc, owner of LeBlanc's Antiques. What might you be called sir?"

Kaiba rolled his eyes this fellow was obviously trying to intimidate him with his so called 'power and wealth.' Kaiba simply decided to ignore the old man.

When Harrison decided the mystery man was not going to answer he said, "Well it has been lovely seeing you Tea, but my store will be opening soon and I must get things ready. Please consider my offer, and remember I can always TAKE what I want."

Tea looked up from the papers and asked, "Is that a threat?"

Harrison smirked and answered, "I prefer to call it foreplay."

Kaiba then stepped forward and glared down at the older man. He picked up the man by his collar and threatened, "If you dare lay a hand on Gardener, I can assure you it will be the last thing you do."

Oddly enough, the older man grinned and replied, "That sounds like a challenge to me boy. What's wrong, are you intimidated."

Tea was frantic, "Kaiba, put him down this instant!" she shrieked.

Harrison was certain he heard that name before, but where?

That was when Alex drove by in his pickup truck. After he parked, he saw Kaiba holding Harrison and said, "No need to bûcher (fight) over ME." He grabbed the straps of his overalls and cheekily finished, "There is more than enough of me to go around. Now carerre (hug) and make up."

Tea started to chuckle, Alex obviously didn't know Kaiba very well. He would sooner break someone's neck than hug someone (other than Mokuba of course.)

Kaiba dropped him on the ground he scurried away as fast as he could…with a cane that is.

Melody walked out the front door and yelled "Tea the rice needs to be strained!"

Tea was about to go inside when Alex said, "Hold on, Cher! I didn't come down here for nothing. I wanted to know if you wanted to go cocodril chasse?"

Kaiba looked on confused, so tea translated, "Alligator hunting. Sounds like fun, what time do you want me to be ready?"

"deux heures (2 o'clock). Mon frère (my brother) and I set up the traps yesterday." Alex explained.

Alex then had a brilliant idea, "Hey boug, why don't you and your brothers join us. Mon frère's fiancé is pregnant. We normally visit the traps in 2 bâteaus (boats) and I don't want him chasse cocodril alone. You could ride in the bâteau with Tea and me; and, your brothers can ride with mon frère."

Kaiba was about to flat out say no, I mean who in their right mind would want to try to catch an alligator. However, Tea interrupted, "Don't tell me the great Seto Kaiba is afraid of getting his hands dirty." 

'Damn she is good,' he thought to himself. If he was certain of anything in life, it was that he wanted to be viewed as fearless, a force to be reckoned with. And, when a tiny girl like Tea isn't afraid of Alligators, then he certainly couldn't be. She smirked knowing she hit a nerve. He let out an annoyed sigh and replied, "I will be waiting outside with Tea. However, I cannot guarantee my brothers will want to come."

Tea was practically beaming at this point. She threw her arms around Kaiba and then ran inside to strain the rice. Before she shut the door, she yelled back, "See you in the morning!"

Kaiba smiled slightly, until he realized Alex was still next to him. He then instantly switched back to his emotionless face.

"You beaus best not be late." Alex warned before he left.

Kaiba walked home and was surprised to see his brothers were waiting for him. "Soooo, can we go?" Noah asked nonchalantly.

Kaiba smirked and leaned against the door, "spying on me again are we?"

"Yep!" Mokuba said enthusiastically, "How else are we going to plan the wedding?"

"I was thinking Jasmine would be a nice name if it is a girl." Noah mentioned.

Mokuba shook his head and replied, "I like Evangeline better, and it sounds more southern."

"If I let you two go, will you stop badgering me?" Kaiba asked irritably.

Mokuba and Noah nodded and Kaiba headed up to the bedroom to check his stocks. Nothing seemed to have changed so he shut his computer and laid back on the bed. While gazing at the ceiling he was deep in thought, he would definitely need more than 2 weeks if he was going to win operation alligator. He growled in frustration, most girls threw themselves at Kaiba, but not this one. She had to be difficult…but, in a way he liked that.

The next day he and his brothers waited outside Tea's house. Alex's truck rolled up and swathe three brothers waiting outside, wearing white button down shirts and black slacks. Alex and his brother got out of the truck and questioned, "That is what you beaus are wearing? Chasse cocodril is a dirty job."

Mokuba shrugged and replied, "That is the most comfortable clothes we own."

Suddenly, Tea came hopping out the barn door on one foot. She was wearing a pink camo jumper with a pink baseball hat. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she was wearing one boot? "Alex, have you seen my other boot?" she asked while pointing to her foot.

Alex started to laugh and replied, "Certainly mon cher, you were hosing it off yesterday. It is probably still behind the barn. Now hurry up Cendrillon, we gonna be late."

Tea chuckled and scurried off to fetch her boot, Alex circled the truck and pulled out some extra pairs of camo. He threw the sets at the boys and said, "I guess Tea wasn't jesting when she said, you didn't own camo."

Kaiba cocked an eyebrow and asked "Do we look like the type who would own camo?"

Alex shook his head and replied, "No, but I never met a beau without at least one set of camo. How else does one hunt?"

Mokuba then asked, "Mr. Alex, What is Cendrillon?"

"You ain't never heard of Cendrillon?! Well, I guess the best description would be the Cajun Cinderella."

By this time Tea came back with her other boot and saw the boys with their button down shirt and slacks. They almost looked ready to attend church. She smirked when she saw Kaiba glaring at the camo.

The 3 boys walked into the barn and changed real fast. When the 3 boys returned, they saw Tea sitting in the front of the truck with Alex. Alex's brother was sitting in the bed of the truck waving the 3 over to join him. Mokuba and Noah ran to the bed of the truck and asked, "Aren't you excited big brother?"

"Ecstatic." Kaiba answered flatly


End file.
